"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible."
-T.E. Lawrence, "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom"

Friday, July 01, 2005

Re-Creation

My great uncle is a magician when it comes to cars. He has overhauled two cars that I am aware of, each to a point of perfection. My favorite car he overhauled was a 1964 ½ Mustang convertible. He originally bought the decrepit piece of crap for $1,500, off of concrete blocks from the original owner’s backyard and made it into a black, metallic piece of art. This car would make a grown man weak and Italian cars drool. After winning several competitions, my great uncle sold the car to the original owner’s daughter for a value of around $16,000. What made this car so valuable; the name “Ford Mustang”? Or maybe it was the year because a ’64 ½ was a superb model. The labor was intensive, which could have been the reason for its value. The greatest reason why this old car was worth as much as a brand new car was rejuvenation. Why is that? In Christianity, I can easily forget some of the basics of my faith. They (other people) say it is a child like faith, but many times I am engrossed in the complexity of the religion for reasons that are obvious. “Nothing is simple,” I find myself saying and I attempt to discover the un-discoverable, tread waters of the unknown to find new truth. Stretching the mind and intellect as far as I can take it, I press on to grasp this religion called Christianity. And then it hits the fan. After living piously, upholding the rules of the church and obeying parents, living a moral life and not getting into to much trouble, I have found myself in a painful process of change. I am constantly having to trust in the unseen and my Savior. I am constantly being stripped of my old self and made into something new. Toad the Wet Sprocket sang in their song Walk on the Ocean: “And somebody told me, that this is the place, where everything’s better, everything’s safe.” This mindset -Christianity is safe-is a lie I had believed. I have forgotten something in my journey, the reason why I needed Christ in the first place. I have realized I am an old has-been on concrete blocks in need of regeneration. Not for my own glory or because I see the need, but for my Owner’s desire to make me better. My Owner, Jesus Christ, has seen a potential in me that I could not have seen. And thus the overhaul process begins. Overhauling anything in this life is not easy or safe. In a world where everything is going toward death, to regenerate something takes an enormous amount of energy and labor. It is a painful process and so it is with our own spiritual life. For God to change us into His image and likeness it an amazing process, but is filled with constructive pain until the final, great pain--death. The pain in the process begs the question: “Is it worth it?” Jesus came that we might have life and abundant life, not to placate our needs. Following Him will cost you. It may cost you your job, your finances and your safety. It may even cost you your image. Reaching out to the person next to you, or across the street from you or the person across the ocean from you forces you to do something you cannot do by yourself. It forces you to think selflessly. Do you trust Him? This life is to short to be selfish and He is to awful to resist.